Woman identifies son as victim killed in Berkeley shelter shooting

BERKELEY, Calif. - Berkeley police continued their investigation Monday into a fatal shooting at a homeless shelter.

There were reports of an arrest, but police have not verified them.

The victim's mother blasted the shelter management at Ursula Sherman Village, saying there was no adequate security on hand.

"Killed my child. My only child. I don’t have no more after this. This is it. I’m pissed. And I don’t give a (expletive) who see it," she screamed from the front seat of her car, but declined to give her name.

She identified her son as 37-year-old Marcel but withheld his last name.

Shelter officials met with the victim's family following the incident.

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The shelter, with an 80-bed capacity, offers housing and services to people and families for up to six months at a time. Some residents consider the facility safe.

"They check bags. I don’t understand how this went down. Everything’s supposed to be checked before they can even come in," said resident Kietra Jones.

Officers received 911 calls at around 5:30 p.m. Sunday about a shooting at the shelter, located at the corner of Harrison and Fourth streets.

"Our officers responded to the scene and located a shooting victim. Our officers began performing life-saving measures. Unfortunately, the victim succumbed to his injuries at the location," said Officer KaJahna Futch.

Investigators said that the shooter fled and has not been identified.

Marcel's mother spoke of her son as a good man with three children and blamed the shelter for his untimely death.

"They let a man walk out this building, go to his car, get a gun. Did not check him on the way in, and kill my son, and shot him multiple times," she said.

Advocates said there have been problems at various city shelters since the days of COVID.

"We’ve been receiving complaints about issues in the shelters for probably the past four or five years," said advocate Ian Morales.

Morales is working through his nonprofit, "Where Do We Go," on a program to monitor city shelters.

"We won’t be giving them prior notice. We’ll be going to the shelters and pretty much just checking everything," said Morales. "The shelters aren’t safe. People don’t feel safe from violence there…and something needs to change."

This incident marks the third fatal shooting – and the fourth homicide –  in Berkeley this year.

Authorities have yet to disclose a motive or information about the suspect.

Jesse Gary is a reporter based in the station's South Bay bureau. Follow him on Instagram, @jessegontv and on Facebook, @JesseKTVU.